This just in . . . Three POV filmmakers have been nominated for DGA Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries for the year 2009! We are thrilled for Geoffrey Smith, who directed last season’s The English Surgeon, and two filmmakers who are part of our upcoming 2010 season: Robert Kenner for Food, Inc. (which will be part of the PBS Press Tour in Pasadena on January 16) and Agnès Varda for The Beaches of Agnes. This is the first DGA nomination for all three directors. The winners will be announced at the 62nd Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Jan. 30 in Los Angeles.
And we have even more good news about Food, Inc.: editor Kim Roberts has received a nomination for Best Edited Documentary in the American Cinema Editors’ 60th Annual ACE Eddie Awards. The winners will be announced Feb. 14 in a ceremony in Los Angeles.
These three films have also made it to several critics’ top picks for 2009, including The Beaches of Agnes and The English Surgeon in Manohla Dargis‘ New York Times favorites of 2009. Betsy Sharkey writes in the Los Angeles Times that The Beaches of Agnes “proved a masterwork from French New Wave auteur, Agnès Varda, who, at 79, turned the camera on herself and found new ways to deconstruct her subject as well as film itself,” and calls humanitarian neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, subject of The English Surgeon, “a central character every bit as engaging as any fiction could conjure up.” The Documentary Blog puts The English Surgeon at No. 4 of their 50 best docs of the decade. Scott Mendelson of the Huffington Post calls Food, Inc. a “humorous and often terrifying look into the industrialized food industry,” and says it is the year’s best documentary. And Steve Persall of the St. Petersburg Times puts Food, Inc. on his list, too.
That’s a lot of good news in one day. Note to POV filmmakers: Keep those tuxes and evening gowns handy!
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